Introduction-Context Part I

I am Teresa Marchant, Local President of the Lockwood Education Association in Billings, MT. We are a title one school with a high free and reduced lunch population. We have been a K-8 school with around 1250 students. Due to recent legislation we passed a levy with will allow us to expand to become a K-12 district. This has been an exciting time for our community. The school is at the center of the community!

This will be my 22nd year in education! I have spend the majority of my career as an Elementary Librarian. I have served on the state library association as the chair of the school library division which allowed me to work union leadership on the state level. I helped plan the educator conference and really enjoyed my time. I have been in local union leadership, I have served as building rep and also began learning the ropes of the negotiations committee. Then 4 years ago, I said yes! to running for Vice President of our association. The only catch was that I would become the President the following year. Recently, I was elected to be the 2019 state delegate at Regional Assembly in Houston. (Which I credit TLI for giving me the courage to run!)

While I was Vice President, I wanted teachers to become more involved in the association. I worked with my superintendent and he loved the idea and let me offer classes for renewal units for union related development classes. These caught on so well, that the Superintendent asked that we continue offering them the following year. These Mini classes were held over the course of the school year. . The first year I was averaging 20 students in each class. The second year, enrollment dropped. In the meantime, I became the Adult Education Coordinator for the district along with being the Elementary School Librarian.

Why TLI?

I began looking into becoming board certified as a teacher and stumbled on to TLI. I went to ECET2 and was really curious about what all it took to "graduate". The next thing I knew, I applied to the program. I needed help to become a leader in my district.

Context - Part II (4 questions): Connecting Self-Assessment to Your Context (refer to Term II - DESIGN Module (2) Needs Assessment)

1. How does awareness of your own biases, experiences of privilege, and personal values inform your chosen association project? 1st Face to Face was an eye opening experience! I was pretty confident at our first TLI face to face. That quickly faded into "What did I do?" We began deconstruction of the overarching competencies and Diversity, Equity, and Cultural Competence. I became aware of my own biases and how attitudes or values impact our decisions. I felt strongly that new teachers needed to know their job. However, I realized it's not just "new" teachers but all teachers.

2. Where I was when I started...

Group Process-Emerging--I felt that I participated in group meeting. We had just begun using the Consensus Bargaining training in our district and wanted teachers to received professional development opportunities sponsored by the association.

Competency 1: Group Processes

• Goal: Assisting staff in understanding their rights, roles, and responsibilities.
• Goal: Engage members in overcoming challenges by working on a common project.

Adult Learning -Pre-Emerging- I had received some training in adult learning, but I really didn't understand the differences nor valued the adult learners impact on others learning. I had a ways to go!

Competency 2: Adult Learning

• Goal: Address adult learners’ needs by utilizing their expertise.
• Goal: Design new learning opportunities for colleagues.

Collaborate Purposefully-Pre-Emerging- I recognized the differences among or new staff vs or veteran teachers and was aware about how they were treated and treated others.

Goal: Explain the value and benefits of including in collaborative groups.

2nd Face to Face

During the 2nd face to face again, the reality that I was lacking leadership abilities stood out! But I was starting to develop humility! We looked at the three pathways. I choose Association Leadership with an emphasis in Community and Culture. I wanted the new and veteran teachers to work together to promote a healthy school climate. Again, looking at my skills I was emerging and set my goals!

Goal:Foster a positive workplace culture of support and encouragement.

3. Describe your work with diverse stakeholders, shared learning experiences, and how you anticipate your association mindset might evolve during the TLI process. Learning how to navigate various aspect of the job can be challenging for new hires. Teachers who have taught for several years, may still not know important issues because of lack of involvement. Administration and board members want to teachers to be able to perform their jobs that they were hired to do.

4. Describe how your awareness of those from different cultures, experiences, and backgrounds inform your chosen project. New teachers lack an adequate knowledge of district policies/procedures. Teachers need to build relationships with each other to break down stereotypes of "new" vs veteran teachers.